Magical Birthday Wishes
by sunshineandsugar
Summary: A Snape has a daughter story,follows Deathly Hallows. My first Harry Potter Fan Fic.Please read/review.Thanks
1. Chapter 1

Birthday Wishes

Summary: Another Snape has a daughter fic. Follows DH, and I tried to keep characters as close to canon as possible. My first attempt at a Harry Potter fanfic. Please read & review. Thanks .

Disclaimer: Don't own the characters, except for Helen and Ariana Adler .Too bad really; I'd give Snape a much happier ending ;). This follows the Madame Pince/Eileen Prince theory.

Chapter One: Violets in the Snow

This was always the worst time of the year for her, Madame Pince thought as she climbed the hill near the shrieking shack her heart as desolate as the landscape around her. She always knew how old her son was- if he'd lived; Severus would've been 43 this year. She'd allowed her library assistant to take over for the afternoon, so she could make her lonely trek dwelling on all the turns her life had taken and the day she'd lost everything when her son, her only child, had been taken from her. Clutching the flowers to her chest Madame Irma Pince made her way to the lonely gravesite by the shack as she carefully placed the flowers by the headstone she whispered "Happy Birthday, Severus."

Madame Pince turned to leave before the charm wore off and her violets froze like the landscape around them and as she turned, a movement caught her eye. A small girl of around five or six was coming in to the gravesite "Here, Mummy?" asked the child as she came through the gate, where the hat of her coat caught on a branch and pulled off her head. For Madame Pince, the world stopped as the little girl turned around and she saw that the little girl was the image of her son. Behind the little girl, a woman with dark red hair approached, calling ahead " Yes, here slow down, Ariana," Irma Pince looked hard at the girl's mother, and remembered seeing the woman with Severus during the last years of his life and at his funeral. As Irma Pince looked and remembered, the memory of a suspicion flashed through her mind a closer look at the little girl and she could see that the girl had her mother's nose and dark blue eyes like the violets that had been left at Severus' grave. "Ooh, you left flowers," came the voice of the little girl from the left as she took off her scarf, wrapped it around the flowers and smiled up at Irma Pince saying "There, now they won't get cold."

Madame Pince opened her mouth to reply and tell the child the flowers would be all right, but as she did the air left her lungs, the world turned on its axis and with one last look towards the little girl who was the image of her son, Irma Pince's world went dark as she fainted for the first time in her life.

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	2. Chapter 2

Birthday Wishes

Ch2 Reflections

Madame Pince came round to find herself in a bedroom upstairs at the Three Broomsticks remembering what had happened she sat up. "Ah, you're awake," came a voice, looking up Irma saw that it was the woman who had been at Severus' grave with the little girl. "Who are you?" Irma Pince finally found her voice "my name is Helen," responded the woman "And Ariana is my daughter." Taking her nerve in both hands, Madame Pince took a deep breath and asked " And Severus'?" The younger woman was silent for several long seconds before responding "Yes" All at once a hundred questions seemed to pop into Irma's mind, she paused by looking around the room and saw a cot in the corner with the little girl, _Ariana ,_Irma thought to herself, _but she's a… my granddaughter,_ sleeping on it. Turning back to the younger woman, Madame Pince opened her mouth to ask another question, but was forestalled by the younger woman asking first "Who are you? And why the interest in my daughter?" Irma Pince took a deep breath, thought back over the years, and slowly began "Before I was Irma Pince, I was once Eileen Prince Snape" Helen sat down very suddenly, exhaling a deep breath now she knew where she'd seen the older woman; she'd been at Severus' funeral the only one who truly mourned him it seemed, the few others that had attended had come out of guilt or curiosity it seemed.

Helen thought quickly, observing the older woman sitting up in the bed "How did you? I mean why? How?" she asked. Eileen thought back to when Severus was still in school, almost seventeen, she'd known for some years that she had to leave Tobias, but she'd been limited, money was always an issue, and with a son to support, for she'd no doubt that she'd have died before she left Severus to Tobias' tender mercies. She still bore the scars from interfering with what he'd called discipline. " I left when Severus was sixteen," Eileen began " I knew I couldn't just leave Tobias, so I created a new person for myself. But what about you? How did you come to have..?" With a jerk of her head, Eileen indicated Ariana, who was waking from her nap. Helen held up her hand to forestall any more questions and once Ariana was up and headed outside to play, the two women followed to keep an eye on the little girl. As they went out, Helen thought back and remembered the pain of knowing how she'd loved Severus, but learning, unfortunately too late, that his love had been given years earlier. Then the final battle had come, and after that the devastating news that Severus had died and then finding out about the child she carried just days before his funeral.

Taking a deep breath Helen started "I guess you know, I was seeing Severus during that time," at Eileen's nod, Helen continued " I just let my heart get carried away a bit," _Only to have it handed back to me_ was her unspoken thought, "And then the Final Battle came, and Severus was gone, and then…well" with a shrug and a point she indicated Ariana, laughing as she busied herself making snowballs.

Surprising the two women who were deep in conversation Ariana pelted them with snowballs. Irma stood frozen with surprise, but Helen promptly reached down scooped up a handful of snow and threw snowballs back at her daughter as fast as she could make them. Eileen watched in bemusement until one of Helen's snowballs hit her instead, and she promptly joined in the snowball fight, joining the little girl against Helen. As the snowball fight continued, it got the attention of a deer that looked as if it had wandered out of the woods and was stunned to find itself hoof deep in the snow. A stray snowball hit the deer and startled it sending the deer running into the forest out of sight. Ariana laughed, saying "Mummy, did you see that silly deer?" between her giggles. Helen looked after the deer and taking advantage of the momentary distraction, both Ariana and Eileen hit Helen with snowballs at the same time. Her mother's look of surprise sent the little girl into renewed gales of laughter and as Irma looked down at the little girl, she felt a smile crack her face for the first time in- years it felt like.

Soon a truce was called in the snowball fight and Helen said that it was time for Ariana to go inside and get cleaned up for tea. Looking at Eileen. Helen asked "It is Ariana's birthday today, and we are having a birthday tea, would you like to join us?" Eileen required no thought, but answered in the affirmative promptly. Going inside the inn, the three went upstairs to clean up and meet downstairs after a short time for tea.


End file.
